Improvement in cigar-box trays



G W. BROWN.

Cigar-Box Tray.

Patente d May 18, 1875.

No.l63, 297.

THE GRAPHIC C0.PHOTOLlTH.39&4-l PARK PLAGEJLY.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WV.

BROWN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CIGAR-BOX TRAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 163,29 7,

dated May 18, 1875; application filed September 30, 1874.

'To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BROWN, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a Tray for Holding Cigars, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to so construct a tray for holding cigars that the contents can be exhibited and examined, but no one or more cigars removed without the destruction of so much ofa government stamp as will indicate the remo al; and this object I attain in the manner which I will now proceed to describe, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a plan view of one of the trays; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the box, and Fig. 3 a perspective view of a portion of the tray.

The exterior box A may be of the same form and material as ordinary cigar-boxes, and may contain one, two, or more trays. In the present instance the box contains two trays only. Each tray is about as deep as, or slightly deeper than, the cigars are thick, and near the rear edge a of the tray is a partition, b, the space between which and the edge of the box I prefer to close at the top, as shown in Fig. 2. In the said partition I) there are as many circular openings as there are cigars in thertray, each opening being large enough to freely admit the thick end of one cigar. At the opposite or front end of the tray, inside of the same, there are as many recesses, f, as there are openings in the partition I), each opening in the latter being directly opposite one of the recesses, and each recess being of a form corresponding with that of the tip of the cigar.

The cigars are introduced into their places by first inserting the thick ends into the openings c in the partition I), and then letting the tips fall into the recesses f. After all the cigars which the tray will hold have been deposited in their places, the government stamp, which consists of a strip of paper, m, is pasted or otherwise properly secured to the top of the tray, as shown in Fig. 8, above the recesses f, and this strip so retains all the cigars in their places that not a single cigar can be removed without first cutting the strip out to an extent sufficient to permit the raising of its tip from the recess f.

Any suitable device may be printed on the strip. In the present instance a series of circles, each marked a, are printed on the strip, there being one of these circles directly above each recess f, the mark indicating the amount of duty on each cigar. V

The trays may be made of sheet metal, pasteboard, or wood, and should be so fitted to the exterior box that they can be readily removed therefrom.

I claim as my invention A cigar-tray having openings 6 at or near one edge, into which the thick ends of the cigars may be introduced, and recesses f at the opposite edge for the reception of the tips, all being constructed substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

G. W. BROWN.

Witnesses:

' HUBERT HoWsoN, HARRY SMITH. 

